The boss at Gatwick has admitted he has no idea when the airport will be able to reopen.

Its runway has been closed for almost 24 hours due to drones being flown over the airfield in a "deliberate and criminal" attempt to cause chaos.

The airport's chief executive, Stewart Wingate, has issued a lengthy apology which gives an update on the latest situation.

He said: "On behalf of everyone at Gatwick I would like to repeat how sorry we are for the inconvenience this criminal behaviour has caused passengers and we share their real anger and frustration that it has happened.

"This is a highly targeted activity which has been designed to close the airport and bring maximum disruption in the run up to Christmas.

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"We obviously wanted to be in a position to reopen the airport again as quickly as possible. We are still receiving drone sightings in and around the Gatwick airfield.

"Therefore, until we are confident that the issue has been resolved it would clearly not be in the interests of passengers to do so as we could be jeopardising their safety.

"So regrettably, for the time being, the airport will remain closed as a result of this criminal activity.

"While some airlines have cancelled all flights up to 7pm tonight, we would encourage all passengers to check the latest information on their flights directly with their airline or on the Gatwick website.

"We are working hard with both the police and Government agencies as we seek to resolve this situation.

A helicopter flies over the runway at Gatwick as the hunt for the operator of the drones continues (Photo - Pete Summers/PA Wire)

"We know that everyone, including Government, appreciates the severity of the situation and are very grateful for the active role that the police are taking to try and resolve this.

"We all recognise the urgent need to take the necessary steps that can lead to services getting back to normal as quickly as possible."

Mr Wingate also made it clear that urgent plans need to be formulated to stop this sort of incident happening again.

He said: "Although not for today, these events obviously highlight a wider strategic challenge for aviation in this country which we need to address together with speed - the aviation industry.

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"Government and all the other relevant authorities. It cannot be right that drones can close a vital part of our national infrastructure in this way.

"This is obviously a relatively new technology and we need to think through together the right solutions to make sure it cannot happen again.

"In the meantime all our focus is on sorting the current challenge and getting services back to normal for passengers.

"At the moment, I am not in a position to say with certainty when that might be but everyone is doing whatever they can to help make that happen."